The fourth
Lanfear album is here and it continues down the impressive path of their previous outing, The Art Effect. Fast paced, powerful and complex Heavy Metal is served with a lot of intensity on the side. The thick wall of sound is back and the well-arranged music doesn't pull any punches.
Sole guitarist Markus Ullrich comes up with some some enticing riffs and he is a very big reason why you should check this band out. Vocalist Tobias Althammer is another. He is a strong competitor for Lance King in the "best highpitched without sounding whiny"-singer category (Just for the record, Daniel Heiman, formerly of Lost Horizon, now Crystal Eyes, still has the crown in this field). Tobias' voice is strong and stands out and my only nitpick is that he goes in to ultra high-pitch mode a few times too many during
The voice within and
In silence. Keyboard player Richie Seibel enhances the music in a great way and gives it its special atmosphere, as in
Dispraise where the keyboard does a good job building up tension. Everything from piano to electronic sounds are used throughout the album and help build a strong foundation for the music, the keyboard effects are not just scattered around randomly, but feel well placed and thought through.
Don't expect to grasp everything on the first listen. I found many of the songs similar the first ten times and it was only after this long introduction period that they have begun to stand out on their own. It is worth taking the time to get the full potential out of this album.
Picking out highlights is hard, but right from the start the title track kicks the album into high gear with with a lot of intensity and power. A cool song that keeps its high drive going for the full 5 minutes the song lasts. There are no bad songs on the album and varied songs like
The Unrestrained,
Dispraise and the fast and heavy
Transmigration with a cool performance by Tobias, keep the standard high.
Eclipse serves as a soothing orchestral intermission before
Shades of black enters the ring and packs a punch a young Mike Tyson would be proud of. By far the most extreme song I have heard from this band. I could have been without the ping pong-like keyboard sounds which pop up a few times, but when the rest of the song is such a full on metallic assault it is quickly forgotten. The breakneck speed and the diverse performance from Tobias shows another interesting side of the band and definitely one they should explore further.
Most songs are fast paced killers, but with
Eternally things take a mellower turn, even bringing a saxophone into the mix. It is a different and alltogether successful song.
What...for was the song that really caught me right from the first listen. It has one of those classy riffs that you'd expect to go in one direction but suddenly it turns the other way and creates a cool unexpected melody. Excellent song! Ending the album is the complex
Outliving the ages. I especially love the first minute of this song which is ruled by a striking keyboard melody.
Overall this is a very solid and varied dose of quality Metal. aNother gOlden rAge shows good progress for the band and though I do not rate it as high as The Art Effect the album still grows with each listen. It just hasn't had the same kind of huge impact on me as The Art Effect did, but one thing is certain, if you like one you will like the other.
Lanfear stand head and shoulders above many other bands in terms of instrumental skills, songwriting and execution and I will heartily recommend fans of Heavy, Power and even Prog Metal to check this band out.
Written by
Steen Friday, February 4, 2005
Show all reviews by SteenRatingsSteen: 7.5/10Members: No members have rated this album yet.
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